Labor Rights in Pipeline For German Sex Workers
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/10/23/253.html
Combined Reports BERLIN -- Germany has passed a landmark bill to boost the low legal standing of prostitutes and give sex workers the right to unemployment benefit, retraining, health insurance and a pension.
Sex workers will be legally entitled to turn away customers, refuse to perform certain sex acts and take disputes with clients over payment to court under the bill passed by the Bundestag lower house of parliament on Friday.
"Prostitutes' services are used around 1.2 million times a day. Prostitution may be seen as immoral -- but it is clearly in big demand," said Christine Bergmann, minister for family, seniors, women and young people, in a statement.
Prostitution is not illegal in Germany, and sex workers pay tax on their earnings, but sexual services were previously described as "immoral" in the German legal code.
The bill, which still needs the approval of the upper house of parliament, or Bundesrat, means prostitution can no longer be described as "immoral," and sex workers can sue if they feel mistreated -- though customers have no right to compensation for "poor performance," the minister said.
Conservative opposition politicians were unconvinced.
Selling one's body remains "morally questionable," said Maria Eichhorn, a Christian Democrat lawmaker, arguing also that the law was unclear and would do little to improve the situation for prostitutes.
Andrea Petsch, a spokeswoman for the sex-worker lobby group Hydra, said the new plans were a good start.
"It's a step in the right direction. We still need some kind of work permit for immigrant prostitutes, who make up nearly half of the 400,000 prostitutes in Germany," she said.
"We welcome that prostitution is no longer listed as immoral, that prostitutes can sue over pay and qualify for social insurance. Long-term it might change people's views. But that will take a very long time," Petsch said.
Germany has a liberal attitude to sexual mores. Red-light districts in areas such as the Reeperbahn in Hamburg and other German cities are tolerated by local authorities, although there was little legal protection for the sex workers themselves.
"We've had a double morality about prostitution for decades. This law means prostitutes get better social and legal protection. Longer term, they have better chances to get out of the profession," Bergmann said. "The law is a successful balance: The legal discrimination against prostitutes is lifted, but clients and brothel-owners do not have a better legal position."
The bill was introduced by the ruling Social Democrats and their Green coalition allies. In the vote, it was also backed by the liberal FDP and the ex-communist PDS, and was opposed only by the conservative opposition.
"The law allows for real contracts with brothel owners, which contain the usual duties for employers. This closes the door on exploitation," commentator Dagmar Borchert wrote on the women's issues portal of the Meome web site.
While the law gives prostitution many of the rights of regular employment, the government insisted it was not elevating prostitution to the status of a "normal" job.
(Reuters, AP)
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